Cancer survivors are honored with party

By Scott Huddleston :
June 22, 2013
: Updated: June 22, 2013 11:03pm

Soila Moreno, right, and her husband, Domingo, laugh as they are entertained by the Hawaiian cultural group Hula Halau Ohana Elikapeka during the annual Cancer Survivors Day Celebration at San Antonio Military Medical Center on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Soila Moreno has been treated for colon cancer.

Photo By Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News

Soila Moreno, a colon cancer survivor, is comforted by her husband, Domingo Moreno, after he read a poem during the annual Cancer Survivors Day Celebration at San Antonio Military Medical Center on Saturday, June 22, 2013. The Morenos were at the center to pick up medication when they came across the celebration, which they knew nothing about. Domingo Moreno composed a poem about the gathering and his wife on the spot.

Cancer survivors celebrate at San Antonio Military Medical Center on June 22, 2013. Domingo Moreno reads a poem for his wife, Soila. Billy Calzada video

Photo By Billy Calzada / San Antonio Express-News

Soila Moreno and her husband, Domingo, laugh as they are entertained by Hawaiian dance group Hula Halau Ohana Elikapeka during the seventh annual Cancer Survivors Day celebration at San Antonio Military Medical Center.

They came away with more than medicine, surprised to walk in on a Hawaiian-themed party for cancer survivors in the mall of the sprawling hospital at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.

The seventh annual Cancer Survivors Day celebration, though smaller than in the past because of military cutbacks, focused on the same core messages of awareness, early detection and community support.

Col. Kyle Campbell, commander of Brooke Army Medical Center, the command that oversees SAMMC as well as outpatient and rehabilitative services, encouraged the crowd of about 150 people, most of them cancer survivors, to keep thriving and making a difference for others.

“You guys are each lifesavers,” Campbell said. “It's the stories you tell that spur your friends to get checked out.”

Ice cream, door prizes and performances by the Hula Halau Ohana Elikapeka dance group kept the mood light. Some men in the audience even volunteered to shimmy in grass skirts.

Trophies were given to the youngest and oldest cancer survivors, and one who has been cancer-free for 24 years, as a reminder that life continues after diagnosis. The National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation estimates that more than 11 million Americans are living with a history of cancer.

Col. George Peoples, director of the Army's Cancer Vaccine Development Program, said BAMC is accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer and seeks to be a leader in prevention and treatment. The new wave in cancer care research is immunotherapy — use of one's own immune system to help fight the deadly disease.

Peoples will retire from the Army in August but will continue working in cancer research in the private sector.

“That will be a part of my life forever. And we'll continue the good fight,” he told the group.

Domingo Moreno, an Army retiree, was so inspired that he wrote a poem during the event and read it to the crowd. His 64-year-old wife, a four-year colon cancer survivor, said her grandchildren pleaded with her when she was diagnosed that “we need you in our lives.” Although her first doctor deployed to Afghanistan, BAMC provided terrific follow-up care, Soila Moreno said.

“It was very beneficial to be here today with other survivors. I think we've become a family,” she said.